Moussaoui: 'I'm glad there was pain'

Michael J. Sniffen, The Associated Press

Published 10:00 pm, Thursday, April 13, 2006

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Reasserting his role in Sept. 11, al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui told jurors Thursday he has "no regret, no remorse," was disgusted by the heart-rending testimony of victims and relatives and only wished they had suffered more.

He said hearing a Navy officer sobbing in court made his day.

"So you would be happy to see 9/11 again?" Prosecutor Rob Spencer asked.

"Every day until we get you," the bearded 37-year-old Frenchman shot back.

As court-appointed defense lawyers began the last phase of their effort to save him from execution, Moussaoui put in a second unsettling appearance on the witness stand.

For 2 1/2 hours, Moussaoui argued with defense lawyer Gerald Zerkin and Spencer about when he had been telling the truth over the past four years and whether he was sane.

In the process, he revealed why he implicated himself in the 9/11 attacks after four years of denials, how he would have defended himself, his reasons for hating America and his dream of being freed by President Bush in a prisoner exchange for captured American troops.

He noted many relatives of victims wept on the witness stand, then walked past him in the courtroom and looked his way without crying. "I find it disgusting that people come here to share their grief over the death of some other person," he said.

"I'm glad there was pain, and I wish there will be more pain," Moussaoui said. "The children in Palestine and in Chechnya will have pain. I want you to share their pain."

So, Spencer asked: "You have no regret, no remorse?"

"No regret, no remorse," Moussaoui responded.

In a lengthy explanation of why he hates Americans, Moussaoui said Islam requires Muslims to be the world's superpower as he flipped through a copy of the Quran searching for verses to support his assertion. He said one verse requires Muslims "to fight against all who believe not in Allah."

"We have an obligation to be the superpower. You have to be subdued," Moussaoui said.

He criticized U.S. support for Israel. "Every child who has been killed in Palestine has been killed because of you," he said. Israel is "just a missing star in the American flag," he added.

In a particularly revealing response, Moussaoui explained to Spencer why he shocked the sentencing trial by testifying March 27 that he had been ordered to hijack a fifth plane on 9/11 and fly it into the White House -- a plot he had long maintained was targeted for a later date.

"I thought it was useless to try to differentiate myself from 9/11," Moussaoui said. "I wanted to stand for 9/11 from the beginning. I thought I could do so and fight on against the death penalty. On purely rational grounds, it's a bit odd. ... By testifying truthfully, I will save my life. It's an act of religion."

For the first time in four years of fighting to represent himself or get a Muslim lawyer, he finally explained the defense he wanted to put on. With U.S. troops engaged around the world, Moussaoui said, a life sentence would make him available "as a bargaining chip they could exchange for U.S. troops" held prisoner.

Defense lawyers claim Moussaoui is lying about his role on Sept. 11 in hopes of achieving martyrdom through execution. They have subpoenaed would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid from a federal prison to ask him whether he was to be second-in-command of Moussaoui's hijack crew on 9/11 as Moussaoui testified.